


Fire off your gun

by LittleDesertFlower



Category: Memorias de Idhún | The Idhún's Memories - Laura Gallego
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2019-01-22 15:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12485268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDesertFlower/pseuds/LittleDesertFlower
Summary: Inspired by Heroes, by Måns Zelmerlöw





	Fire off your gun

**Author's Note:**

> "What if I'm the only hero left  
> You better fire off your gun  
> Once and forever"

**_“Magical weapons?” Jack repeated. “Those things really exist?”_ **

**_Alsan nodded, but did not elaborate._ **

**_“Wouldn’t a gun or something be more effective?”_ **

**_“I know what guns are, and I don’t like them,” Alsan growled, suddenly serious. “There is nothing noble nor brave in killing from afar.”_ **

* * *

 

 

**When silence overcame that area of the Seattle Center, Alexander stared at Victoria.**

**“You missed on purpose,” he said. “Why?”**

**“I didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” she replied in a small voice.**

**“The right thing!” Alexander repeated. “Don’t you think it right to end a murderer who’s killed many of us?”**

**Victoria looked him in the eye, impassive. “What’s wrong, Alexander? Didn’t you loath firearms because killing from afar was for cowards?”**

He was about to reply, but a memory swallowed him before he could muster a word.

 

_It’d been a meeting to discuss strategy after a few fail tries at defeating Ashran’s envoy. Alexander remembered how exhausted he was from losing time and time again, but mostly he remembered his_ rage, _his taking it out on who least deserved it. ~~~~_

_The round table they were sitting at was too big just for two. The mission was too heavy to carry to term. The days grew thin, the years grew tortuous._

_“We must be doing something wrong…” Alexander remembered how Shail used to say that every time. He’d sit down after an encounter, surround himself with books, and ask himself that question until he fell asleep reading. It was useless, of course, as most things they did back then were, Alexander thought, and back then he used to scorn Shail for it more often than not. They were young, he supposed, and those things were buried – like Shail was._

_“Of course we are,” Alexander said. “Of course we_ are _. We focus too much on defense. We should work on our offense.”_

_“I don’t think that’s it,” Shail said, pensive._

_“Then what is?” His own face in the memory scared him. Too harsh, never thinking, thinking he had the luxury to be like that, to act like a prince when in this world he was just a lost wolf howling to a moon that didn’t listen._

_“Strategy, maybe. We don’t fight much, that’s true. But when we do, you’re always the one to come at him while I wait back. Hand-to-hand combat is tricky, and you’re good, Alsan, but –”_

_“_ But?”

_“That kid is, somehow, better. And one day he’s going to kill you.”_

_“Let him try.”_

_“Perhaps we could ambush him in a way that I can strike first, when we might surprise him. Or we could acquire a handgun. They use those here to ... get it done faster.”_

_“Nurgon warriors do not kill from a distance. There is no honor in that.”_

_“This is not about honor, is it?”_

_“Everything is about honor.”_

_“We’re talking about potentially saving our world; honor should have no place in that, and it hurts me to say it.”_

_“Even so, I am not trained to use a handgun.”_

_“Neither am I. We can learn.”_

_“He’d outsmart us. You know he would. He’d feel us hiding and hide better, and then strike harder, and we’d die before it began. The only possible way to get him is by sword. And the only sword that can kill him is mine. Everything else is out of the question.”_

_“Still, killing him is not our priority. Or it shouldn’t be.”_

_“No. But he_ will _be there, and we’d succeed must faster with him out of the picture.”_

_“Two birds with one stone…”_

_“Exactly.”_

_Times have changed far too much_ , Alexander thought. _Far too much…_

He wished for his friend’s companionship and understanding. These kids were comrades as well, friends in need as he was, but it was not the same. They did not understand. Or they had their own inner workings that _he_ could not comprehend.

Alexander sighed. Whatever it was, Shail would have seen through it. He would have helped them work it out.

_They should have gotten me that night, Shail, not you… They took out the best of us. We need you._

**Author's Note:**

> The italicized & bold bits are translations from the original book (La Resistencia).


End file.
